Practice ammunition



April 22, 1969 BOCK ET AL 3,439,619

PRACTICE AMMUNITION Filed July 10, 1967 INVFNT'OHS' 6712/1 .BOCA/ MuPan-25c United States Patent 3,439,619 PRACTICE AMMUNITION Erich Bock,Schwaig, and Max Rentzsch, Furth, Germany, assignors to Diehl,Nuremberg, Germany Filed July 10, 1967, Ser. No. 652,188 Claimspriority, applicatign Ggrmany, July 16, 1968,

Int. Cl. F42b 13/20 US. Cl. 102-92.7 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThe present invention is characterized primarily in that the housing isof synthetic material, preferably a glass fiber reinforced polyesterwith the glass fibers in said cylindrical portion oriented in thelongitudinal direction of the housing and with the glass fibers in thebottom crossing each other.

The present invention relates to practice ammunition for firing fromrifled barrels, the disintegration projectile of which comprises amantle forming a container of synthetic material and also comprises acore of heavy powder, preferably iron powder compressed to a body.

Practice ammunition has to meet the requirement that similar to liveammunition it can be belted or filled into a magazine and when it ismechanically automatically fed, it must be able to be fired in the samequick sequence as live ammunition, but on the other hand, when leavingthe mouth of the barrel, it must when being fired not only disintegratefast but, above all, must disintegrate into non-dangerous particles.These two requirements, however, oppose each other. If a projectile isprovided with a relatively thick container wall and, in particular, witha strong bottom in order to withstand high stresses, which bottom aloneresists the propulsion charge necessary for a quick firing sequence andautomatic feeding, it is difiicult to disintegrate these parts intocorresponding small particles or, expressed differently, to eliminateany piercing force over a short distance.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide aprojectile container or mantle which will overcome the above mentioneddrawbacks.

It is another object of this invention to provide a projectile containeror mantle which, on one hand, will have the necessary shock and pressureresistance to withstand the forces occurring with automatic feeding andwhich, on the other hand, will have a bottom adapted to withstandrelatively high stresses caused by the propulsion charge and which willnot be deformed so that the press ltre will be uniformly distributedover the entire project] c.

It is another object of this invention to provide a projectile containeror mantle which following the firing will already over a short distancedisintegrate into nondangerous individual particles.

3,439,619 Patented Apr. 22, 1969 ice These and other objects andadvantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the followingspecification in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 represents a longitudinal section through a practicedisintegrating projectile with a mantle according to the presentinvention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 diagrammatically illustrate a bottom view of the mantleaccording to FIG. 1 in a pre-manufacturing stage.

The projectile container or mantle according to the present invention ischaracterized primarily in that it consists of glass fiber reinforcedsynthetic material, especially a polyester. Furthermore, the glass fibermaterial is length oriented on the cylindrical wall and the glass fibersat the bottom may be placed so as to cross each other.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the projectile container ormantle comprises an envelope or casing 1 of synthetic material, as forinstance a polyester, which has the shape of a projectile with a bluntednose 2 and an obturator head 3, as well as a reinforced bottom 4 and acompressed powder disintegration body 5. Embedded in the said syntheticmaterial which is preferably a polyester are glass fiber inserts 6, 7which are poured or injected into the synthetic material and arelongitudinally oriented in the mantle wall 8. In other words, the saidglass fiber inserts extend from the bottom 4 to the tip 2, whereas inthe bottom 4 itself they are transversely oriented and are crosswise orat a different angle arranged in layers.

The overlapping of two glass fiber layers 6, 7 is evident from FIG. 2,whereas the overlapping of three reinforcing inserts 9, 10, 11 isevident from FIG. 3, the bottom 4 to be formed later is indicated bydash lines.

The mantle 8 of the illustrated projectile 1 is in view of the glassfiber inserts 6, 7; 9, 10, 11 stable in longitudinal direction and isalso non-sensitive against shocks acting radially from the outside. Thebottom 4 has a great strength so that it will be able to withstand thepropelling charge pressure required for a fast firing sequence. Thepractice ammunition provided with such a projectile is suitable forroughest handling and thus meets the first requirement above referredto.

When firing the projective from a rifled barrel, high centrifugal forcesbecome effective which act from the inside toward the outside. While theprojectile is held together within the barrel by means of said barrel,and while the projectile is relatively rigid in axial direction in Viewof the longitudinal orientation of the glass fiber inserts, it will tearfor instance in view of a non-illustrated crosswise weakening of themantle 1, 8 from the tip 2. In this direction, the glass fiber inserts'6, 7; 9, 10, 11 do not exert a stiffening or holding together effect.The core 5 is freed and disintegrates in a manner known per se into itsoriginal ingredients. The torn open relatively light mantle, however, asfar as it is not torn into smallest particles or fibers, has such a highair resistance value that it will drop to the ground at a short distancefrom the barrel mouth.

It may also be mentioned that besides chloric unsaturated polyesterdissolved in styrene (known under the trademark Palatal 5 310 of BASF)some other materials could be used, for instance, epoxy resin (knownunder the trademark Araldite Ly 556).

What we claim is:

1. Practice ammunition for firing from a drawn barrel,

which includes: a projectile shaped housing of synthetic materialreinforced by glass fibers, a core of powder within said housing, saidhousing having a relatively long and narrow cylindrical portion and ablunted nose portion and being closed by a bottom of synthetic materialreinforced by glass fibers crossing each other, the glass fibers in saidcylindrical portion of said housing being oriented in the longitudinaldirection of said cylindrical portion.

2. Practice ammunition for firing from a drawn barrel, which includes: aprojectile shaped housing of synthetic material reinforced by glassfibers, a core of powder within said housing, said housing having arelatively long and narrow cylindrical portion with a blunted nose 4portion, the glass fibers in said cylindrical portion of said housingbeing oriented in the longitudinal direction of said cylindricalportion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,872,865 2/1959 Skaar 102-563,000,308 9/1961 Land et al. 102-56 3,081,705 3/1963 Warnken 102-1053,170,405 2/1965 Jungermann et al. 102-41 X 3,242,865 3/1966 Jungermannet a1. 102-41 X ROBERT F. STAHL, Primary Examiner.

